Danny Higginbotham has admitted he was so jealous of his Stoke City team-mates that he wanted them to lose their FA Cup semi-final against Bolton in April 2011 and then the subsequent final.

The veteran defender had scored the goal that beat West Ham in the quarter-final to send the Potters to Wembley, but was then injured in a Premier League game against Chelsea just a couple of weeks before the Bolton clash.

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It turned out he had ruptured a cruciate ligament during a collision with Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, ending his season.

In new football podcast, The Match, Higginbotham reveals the despair he felt at missing out on Stoke’s two Wembley dates after they beat Bolton 5-0 to then take on Manchester City in the final, a game they would lose 1-0.

Danny Higginbotham scores Stoke City's winner in their FA Cup quarter-final against West Ham at the Britannia Stadium on March 13, 2011. (Image: Laurence Griffiths)

He said: “I didn’t want them to win the semi-final and I didn’t want them to win the final either. It was a horrible, horrible feeling because I was so jealous.

“I remember going to the games and thinking, ‘Come on, just get beat and then that’s the FA Cup finished with’, and then they got to the final.

“It was horrible way to be because it was such a fantastic dressing room, but for me it was just human nature. And for me to say anything other than that now would be a lie.”

However, Higginbotham admits he felt none of the joy of his team-mates. He said: “I didn’t want to be at the semi-final, I didn’t want to be at the final, I wanted to be as far away from it as possible. And as soon as it was over I was a lot happier.

Danny Higginbotham is mobbed by team-mates after scoring Stoke City's winner in their FA Cup quarter-final against West Ham at the Britannia Stadium on March 13, 2011. (Image: Laurence Griffiths)

“I was delighted that the lads did well in the cup, but for me there was a massive amount of jealousy and I’d be a liar if I said I that I wanted the team to win the FA Cup, which is an awful thing to say but it was just me being honest at the time.

“I hated myself for thinking like that. I’d speak to my close friends and family and say to them it made me a horrible person for thinking things like that, that I didn’t want the team to be successful and win the FA Cup and the semi-final.

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“What they would say is, ‘Well you had a part in it, you scored the winner in the quarter-finals’, but that was nothing to do with it. For me, you are only a part of it if you are out on the pitch, no matter what people try to say.

“You do question yourself for thinking like that, like am I a bad person for wanting that, but the more that I spoke to my friends about it, the more I realised it was just human nature. It was success you wanted to be a part of.

Danny Higginbotham signs autographs ahead of the FA Cup final at Wembley between Stoke City and Manchetser City on May 14, 2011. (Image: Press Association)

“I got a medal at the end of it, but I couldn’t even tell you where that medal is now because it is nothing to do with me.

“I didn’t have any participation in the final, I didn’t have any participation in getting to the final from the semi-final, so for me it is a cup final medal, albeit a losers’ medal, and it means absolutely nothing to me.

“My friends know that I’m a very relaxed, chilled out, mild-mannered person. I don’t get angry, and I’m not a normally jealous person, but that really did get to me. I didn’t want to feel that way, it was an awful feeling… but it’s been and gone now, and it’s how I felt at the time.”

Higginbotham played on briefly after the pain subsided, but a further challenge from Didier Drogba ended his match and season.

He added: “The next day I went for a scan and the people there said if they didn’t know better they would have thought I'd been in a skiing accident, because it was such a mess.”

Higginbotham returned to play for Stoke in the Europa League the following season, but struggled to regain his best form. After loan spells at Nottingham Forest and Ipswich he eventually left Stoke to join Sheffield United on a free transfer in January 2013.

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He recalled: “The day I did my cruciate was the beginning of the end of my career. I was never the same player again, and the disappointing thing for me was that I was near enough playing some of the best football of my career at the time.

“As a kid I played with my mates dreaming of playing at Wembley. I’m 37 now…. and my biggest disappointment has been to miss an FA Cup final. Now if at 37 if that is your big disappointment then I think you have been very fortunate."